


well, shit.

by Pomodoridori



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Major Character Injury, but he deserves it 100 percent, but when is he not???, hux has a really shitty time, kylo is a butt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-08
Updated: 2016-06-26
Packaged: 2018-07-13 22:26:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7140110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pomodoridori/pseuds/Pomodoridori
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Starkiller base, Hux starts to crack.  His attempt to leave the First Order is disastrous.</p><p>Millicent is starting to get tired of everyone's shit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. featuring angry space men

Hux felt like screaming.  Of course, he had known the meeting with Snoke the day after the fiasco at Starkiller Base wouldn’t be pleasant-- he’d expected Snoke’s outrage at his failures.  Hux had planned meticulously for any command, any situation, running scenarios and punishments through his head for hours beforehand ( _ What if Snoke ordered him to have new plans ready by the next month? What if Snoke had him killed?  Or worse, tortured? _ ).  But Hux had not planned for  _ this _ .  After hearing Snoke’s words, Hux had fought down a wave of panic, a flush of embarrassment, a cresting wave of rage.  But he’d merely nodded, and left the room ( _ This was shameful.  Awful.  What would Ren think?  Worse, what would Father think? _ )  ... _ It is definitely effective _ , Hux thought.   _ Psychologically.   _

Hux bit back a scathing remark as he passed trembling Lieutenant Mitaka (and honestly, when  _ wasn’t _ the fool scared out of his wits?  Certainly, Starkiller base had shaken  _ all _ of them, but Mitaka had been weak even before its destruction).  It wasn’t as if Hux could discipline him  _ now _ , of all times.  Not when he’d been demoted, especially not when he’d been demoted in the most embarrassingly public way possible (Hux remembered clenching his fist in shock, feeling the blood drain from his face as Snoke had spoken into his mind,  _ all _ their minds, using some damned Force-trick, growling, ‘ _...Due to unfortunate circumstance, ‘General’ Hux has been removed from command.  Thanisson, you will resume command, _ ’ and then, directly to Hux, ‘ _ Lieutenant, don’t fail me again.’ _ )

Hux hurried to his rooms (he steadfastly ignored the tremors in his legs) only to find that the codes to unlock the room had been changed.   _ Already.  Damn, the bastard moves fast. _  Hux could hear Millicent’s excited meows from behind the durasteel doors (no doubt she was anticipating his arrival with glee).

“Pssfassk!”  He slammed his fist into the metal, once ( _ No _ , he reminded himself,  _ you’re not like that pathetic Ren.  Don’t lose your cool _ ), and stormed back to the bridge.

“Lieutenant!” He barked (Mitaka jumped, and turned to face him, looking incredibly nervous).

“Y-yes, Gener-- er, Lieut-- Hux?”

“Where have my quarters been moved?” Hux ignored the way he was garnering soft looks from other officers on the bridge ( _ I don’t need their pity.) _

“A-ah, let me, um, check that for you.”  Mitaka turned to the nearest database and began to type.  He squeaked when a large hand clapped itself onto his shoulder.

“Get back to work, Lieutenant Mitaka, unless you too fancy a demotion.”

Hus scowled, glaring at the new general’s back.  Thanisson turned to face him, eyes shining victoriously.   _ I always hated Thanisson.  He’s tried to stab me in the back far too many times.  Pssafking snake. _

“Lieutenant Hux,” he purred, “I’ve moved your new barracks to sector five.  I suggest you move your things out of my rooms before I have them flushed out of an airlock.”

Hux bristled.   _ Sector five’s next to the landing bay.  Most commotion, smallest rooms.  Bastard’s got some nerve, reassigning me there. _  “That would be possible,  _ Sir _ , if I knew the passcode to m-- your rooms.”

Thanisson chuckled as a nasty smile spread across his features.  “Good luck, Lieutenant.  Now get off my bridge.”

Hux nearly spat on Thanisson’s face, but contained himself, if only just.  He turned on his heel (crisply, in formation,  _ orderly _ ), shooting Mitaka a withering glare, and left, buzzing with rage.  Turning the corner, he nearly slammed face-first into Kylo Ren ( _ Fucking bastard, caused so much trouble, Starkiller is practically entirely his fault, and yet I took the fall-- _ ).

“General.”  Ren was angry, as always.

Hux glared at him.  “What in hell are you doing outside med bay?”

Ren crossed his arms.  “None of your concern.”  (He sounded petulant, like a scolded child.  The  _ idiot. _ )

“It is if you die and the Supreme Leader decides  _ that _ is my fault, too.”  Hux was too irate to bother with his usual cold facade.

Ren snorted, and stepped to the side, as if to pass him.  Hux caught his arm and Ren stiffened.

“Ren, follow me.”   _ Thanisson’s going to have to get his blast doors repaired. _

Ren snarled, but obediently followed Hux through the corridors ( _ That’s strange, Ren’s never been willing to obey my orders before.  Well, in bed, certainly, but outside my quarters--) _

“Your quarters?” Ren sounded surprised.

“Not technically, no.  Open the doors for me.”

“What? Why?”  Ren sounded confused (as he was, perpetually)

“Just do it,” Hux hissed, “and I don’t mind if the doors are damaged, either.”

Ren gave a grunt of surprise.  “You’re  _ asking _ me to destroy First Order property?”

“Yes.”  Hux’s mouth folded into a thin, annoyed line.

Ren shrugged and the doors bulged inwards, cracking and shrieking as they were ripped off their hinges.

“That broken enough for you, Hux?”

“Don’t call me that, Ren,” Hux snapped.  “And yes.  I suggest you go back to medical before you keel over and die.”

Ren did not bother with a reply, and simply stalked away.  Hux ignored a tiny flame of guilt.   _ He used to call me Hux, anyway. _

_...Bastard. _

\---

The first day after his demotion was  _ hell _ .  Hux felt miserable, unable to stop wallowing in his own self-pity ( _ I’m becoming more Ren-like with each passing day,  _ he thought bitterly).  Working with the crew was fine, it was just the constant smirking face of Thanisson that haunted his day.  The tasks, of course, were well beneath him, and although his duties were simple, they took up extraordinary amounts of time.  It was a good reminder of why Hux hated being a Lieutenant.  Lots of busywork.

Three more days passed, and Hux began to receive thinly veiled death threats via his datapad.  Hux thought them childish, despite his first impulse to go to Ren for protection.   _ Not that I see Ren any more, these days.  He can’t risk being associated with a failure like me. _

It was two weeks later that Hux started to crack under the pressure.  He’d lost his life’s work, his (sometime) lover, and the top position in one of the most powerful military-industrial complexes in the galaxy.  He was bitter, and hated the  _ busywork _ that was being assigned to him.   _ I should be planning the Starkiller II.  Or designing spyware, or new airships, or better star destroyers, and Thanisson was incompetent at best, moronic at worse, and-- _

_Enough._  Hux scowled at himself as he stroked Millicent’s fur.  She was purring gently.   _Those thoughts are treasonous,_ Hux told himself, even as he knew that they were _true_.  Snoke’s punishment had seriously hurt the First Order.  Already, they were losing traction, because Thanisson’s recovery plan had been severely _lacking._ _Idiot doesn’t know what he’s doing._

 Suddenly, a message pinged on his datapad.  Hux read it over, frowning, feeling a sinking pit in the bottom of his stomach.   _ So that’s how Thanisson’s going to get rid of me.   _

\---

Hux found Kylo Ren staring out of the viewports in the recreation room just off 6-F, a favorite haunt of his.

“Ren,” Hux began, “I’m being deployed.”

Kylo turned, and Hux could see him clutching his helmet beneath his arm.  “You’re being what?”

“Deployed.”  The word stung in his throat like bitter acid.

“What?  Why?”  Ren’s voice held a note of hurt, and anger.   _ It’s not my damn fault, Ren.  Technically, it’s yours. _  Hux ignored the way Kylo seemed to flinch.   _ Serves him right for snooping around in my head. _

Hux shrugged.  “It’s a neat way to dispose of me.  ‘Killed in the line of duty’.  No one would ever question it.”

Ren’s face twisted, in what Hux thought was anguish ( _ why? _  They’d only fucked a few times, and it’d been without complications, without  _ attachment _ .  It was simpler, safer, that way.)

“You can’t--”

“Yes, I can, Ren, don’t be a child!!”  Hux’s voice reverberated around the chamber powerfully, echoing.  He quieted.  “I have to.”

Ren took a few fumbling steps towards him, opening his arms as if expecting to be embraced.  Hux took a step back.  “No, Ren.  Not now.  I--”   _ I came to say goodbye.  Not that it’d do any good. _

“Hux, please.”  Kylo rasped.  “I don’t want you to die.”  He took another trembling step forward.

“That’s a pity, isn’t it?  You ought to want me dead.  One less player in your way.  Although that’s already been taken care of, hasn’t it,  _ Lord _ Ren?”  Hux ignored the way his stomach twisted when Ren physically flinched back.

“Please, Hux-- just-- just-- take a TIE fighter.  Get out of here before you’re sent away to die.”  Kylo’s hands were held out to him, placating,  _ pleading. _

Hux snarled.   _ How dare he.  How dare he question my loyalty to the Order.   _ “No.  I see you have nothing useful to say.  I’m taking my leave.  Goodbye.”  With a click of his heels, Hux strode (fled) from the room.  In his haste, he did not see Ren sinking to his knees against the backdrop of  the glittering viewport.  He certainly did not see how Kylo Ren, master of the Knights of Ren, covered his face with a hand and shriek.  And Hux made sure to ignore the savage screaming that poured from the room not even seconds after he’d left it.

Later, he’d smirked at the reported damage in quadrant 6-F.  Apparently, it had been found smoking and in ruin by a team of three Stormtroopers.   _ Pity that Thanisson will have to deal with Ren’s temper tantrums, now. _

\---

Hux woke in the middle of his sleep cycle coated in sweat and gasping.  He needed to-- needed to--   _ I have to leave.  Now. _  Hux knew that he was being irrational, that being deployed wasn’t  _ that  _ bad, and  _ for god’s sakes I’ve been on-planet before, back when I was just a cadet, and I had to maneuver between the front lines, it’s not so bad--  _

_ It was hell.  The screams of the dying, the smell of shit and piss and blood and rot, the terror that followed you everywhere, even when you went just out of camp to take a leak, that something was going to get you, going to yank out your intestines and you’d be left gasping on the ground, only aware of pain and-- NO.  I’m not going back to that.  I’m not ready to die. _

He took a ragged breath and began to hastily pack a bag.  A bundle of clothing.  A first aid kit.  Millicent’s food (because Hux  _ knew _ that once he was gone, she’d be sent tumbling out an airlock into the vacuum of space within days).  He nabbed Millicent, who was dozing beneath his cot, and jammed her into a bag.  She gave an angry hiss, but Hux ignored her.   _ It’s for your own good, Millie. _  Hux tucked his favorite blaster into the hem of his pants.  Swallowing his pride, he shouldered Millicent’s bag (she batted at his vest in frustration) and picked up his (small) duffel bag.   _ If anyone asks, I’m going to do some late night, stress relieving shooting, and the bags have my equipment. _

No one asked, until he’d loaded his things (and Millie) into a TIE fighter.   _ Small, fast, and difficult to track.   _ Hux powered it up, running a hand across the control panels.   _ Damn, it’s been a long time since I flew one of these things. _  A voice chirruped through the comms unit on board.

“TIE number six-three-four-four! Stand down.  Control requires verification for launch.  Do not launch until you report your verification code to control.  I repeat, do not launch.”

Hux pushed the comms button.  “ _ Fuck _ the verification codes,” he snarled (despite  _ knowing _ that it would alert command to his rogue intentions).  The comms unit went quiet with a strangled sounding beep.  Hux noted that the shield generators had begun to power up, and that the red-alert alarm had begun to blare.   _ Kriff.  It’s time to leave.  I don’t even know what possessed me to to this-- but I’m bantha fodder if I stay. _

Hux flipped off the break switch and the control board lit up.  He grabbed the pilot’s joystick and rammed it forward.  The TIE fighter made a screeching, sputtering sound and sailed across the hangar, sending a jolt of force running down Hux’s spine.  Millie yowled (she’d always hated flying.  Too much shuddering, or something).

The bolt from the ventral cannons hit the TIE fighter just as Hux pulled the ship into hyperspace.  “Kriff!”  The right wing was damaged, and the TIE fighter wobbled before making the jump to hyperspace.  Hux could smell burning, could hear a strange whining noise that reminded him just too much of the shrieking noise metal made as it tore, and knew that if he didn’t pull out of hyperspace  _ now _ he’d be blown up.   _ This was an awful idea.  I regret it with every fiber of my being. _  Hux yanked at the controls and the ship snapped out of hyperspace; the TIE fighter went into a spin, pulled by gravity towards some unknown dirtball of a planet.  

“Hell!”  Hux punched in the code to turn on the shielding system.  The control panel was flashing red and screeching at him, and Millicent was howling in terror.   _ Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. _ _ I’ve drawn Millie into this mess now, too.   _ Hux shut his eyes as the world outside the viewport spun and he prepared for impact, fastening as many buckles as he could.  He felt nauseated.  There was a whistling, shuddering sound, as if wind were ripping pieces of the fighter off, and then a huge BOOM that shook the craft.  Hux’s head snapped back and the world went black.

\---

The craft had come hurtling towards the ground at several hundred miles per hour.  Rey had been flabbergasted-- how in Force had an unknown ship found the new Resistance base, and why had it been shot down in the skies?  After hearing the reports, Rey knew that none of the Resistance pilots had fired at the vessel.  Apparently it had simply been ejected out of hyperspace in a smoking, tangled ruin and had proceeded to fall to the ground at high speeds (Poe, who’d been training some younger pilots at the time,  _ swore _ that it was a TIE fighter.  If that was the case, Rey was worried that the First Order had already found the relocated Resistance base.)  Rey, Poe, and a squadron of X-wings had been sent to scout out the vessel and see if there were any survivors.  Rey doubted that there were any, but it would at least be a good chance to see what kind of ship it was.  The X-wings were currently circling the sky, making sure from above that Poe and Rey were safe from ambush.

“Can you sense anything alive through the Force?”  Poe sounded worried (he had been ever since Finn had returned from Starkiller.  Finn hadn’t woken up yet and Poe spent a good portion of the day watching the former ‘trooper sleep, and although the doctors said it’d only be a matter of time before Finn woke up, Rey  _ knew _ Poe was extremely nervous anyway)

Rey closed her eyes, feeling the swirls of energy that buzzed around the ship.  “There’s an animal. It’s very distressed.  Maybe it’s trapped?”

“We’d better hurry, then.”  Poe picked up his pace over the rocks and fallen logs.  “You can’t feel a pilot?”

Rey shook her head.  “No pilot.  At least, not a live one.”

The craft was still smoking when they arrived.  The force of the impact had caused a huge crater to form, and one of the wings of the vessel had been torn off.

“Holy bantha,” Rey breathed, “it IS a TIE fighter!”

Suddenly, a loud howling echoed from inside the wreckage.

“You were right, Rey.  There’s an animal trapped in there.”  Poe’s mouth was pressed into a thin hard line.  “But it’s a First Order ship, which means it could be dangerous, whatever it is.  Especially if it’s injured.”

Rey shrugged.  “I’ve got my lightsaber, and you have your blaster.  We’ll be fine.”

Poe sighed.  “All right, Rey.  I’m calling for backup, though.”

“Sure.”  Rey walked over to the edge of the pit, peering down into the hole.   _ Looks safe enough to slide down. _  Another strange howling noise came from inside the vessel, and Rey scampered down the side of the slope.  She could feel a flicker of worry from Poe through the Force.   _ It’s fine, you worrywart. _  Rey circled the TIE fighter, looking for an easy way in.   _ Doesn’t look like there’s any holes and the door of the craft is buried in the dirt.  Guess the viewport will do. _

Rey powered on her lightsaber and carved away a section of the steel-reinforced glass.  The howling noise stopped, and then--

_ “Meeooowwummphhh!” _  An orange streak flew from the hole in the viewport and landed at Rey’s feet, spitting.  Rey flinched back, ready to stab it, but then--

_ “Meoooooooowww. _ ”  It was a cat, huge and fluffy and soft, and it was rubbing against her leg.  “ _ Meeeeeoooow.” _

Rey let out a sigh of relief, sagging.  She powered off her lightsaber and bent over to gently rub at the cat’s ears.  Poe poked his head over the edge of the hole.

“Kriff, is that a cat?!”

“Yes,” Rey called back, “I’m gonna check on the pilot now!”   _ Although I doubt it’ll be a pretty sight. _

Poe made his way down the slope and Rey finished cutting out what was left of the viewport.  As she lifted the last of the glass away, a grim sight came into view.

There was blood sprayed on the sides of the walls.  The pilot was still strapped into their seat, head hanging low, ginger hair covering their face.  A scarlet color dripped from their chin onto their chest.  A hand, too pale against the dark interior of the TIE fighter, flopped off the side of the control panel, where the pilot’s seat had been thrust during the crash.  The body was pinned between the seat and the control panel.  It had a First Order uniform on.  An officer, then.  Rey clapped a hand over her mouth, feeling nauseous.   _ Oh Force.  What a way to go. _

“Hey,” Poe’s voice cut through Rey’s shock.  She flinched when his hand landed on her shoulder.

“Oh, fuck.  That’s-- that’s-- Rey, are you alright?”  Poe looked pale, and kept his eyes on Rey.   _ Guess he doesn’t want to look at the body either. _

Rey blinked back her tears.  “Yes.  I’m fine.  Just a bit shocked.  I-- I haven’t checked their pulse yet.”  She reached forward and touched her fingers to the corpse’s neck.  It was still warm and then--

“Kriff!”  She jerked her hand back as if stung.  “They’re still alive!”

“Fuck,” Poe pulled out his comms unit and ordered for paramedics to come, immediately.  Rey began to pull the pilot’s chair back using the Force.

“Wait, don’t move them!”  Rey paused.  Poe looked very, very frightened.  “You’re risking pulling something out of them and causing more blood loss.  If there’s debris embedded in their torso, it could shred some organs if you’re not careful.”

Rey put her hands up and let the chair slide back into place.  “Okay, Poe.”

The pilot frowned.  “I learned that when I was just a rookie.  Some kid got shrapnel from an explosion stuck in his abdomen, and he tried to pull it out.  He bled out a few minutes later.”

“Oh.”  Rey blinked.  “I’m sorry.”

Poe shrugged.  “I’m going to take a look at their face.”

Rey nodded, and startled when the orange cat rubbed itself against her leg, meowing.  She started to pet it.

“It’ll be okay, kitty,” Rey crooned.  The cat meowed again.   _ What I’m wondering, though, is why you were on the TIE fighter at all... _

“Shit.”

Rey looked up.  “What is it, Poe?”

“This guy isn’t just some officer.  It’s General Hux himself.”  Poe was wide-eyed.  “He’s the one who runs the whole damn military-industrial complex.”

Rey’s jaw almost dropped.  “What in hell was he doing out here?!”

“Hell if I know.”  Poe looked up as a medic tapped on the sides of the TIE fighter.  “But I bet he’ll be a wealth of First Order information.  If he lives.”

Rey stared down at the pale-faced man strapped into the pilot chair.   _ So this is the man who ordered the slaughter of billions.   _ Rey clenched her fist.   _ Fuck. _


	2. where the hell is millicent?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Curiously enough, Millie does not make a surprise visit to Hux in his hospital bed.

The first thing Hux was aware of was something pressed to both sides of his cheeks.  He tried to open his eyes, only to find that his eyelids were incredibly heavy, as if there were stones glued to them.  Hux soon discovered that the rest of his body was the same way: lax and soft and utterly unresponsive.  He remembered that this sort of thing would usually alarm him, but at the moment it didn’t seem too concerning.  Just sort of...peaceful.   _...Could use the vacation anyway... _

Hux drifted.  He occasionally heard voices wobbling near his ears, but they seemed far removed.  Warbling like he was underwater.  Hux smiled (or tried to, at least.  His muscles  _ really _ weren’t cooperating).  He liked the water.  It was calm, cool.  Trickled across his brain the same way blood pounded through his veins.  Hux giggled.  An unknown face swam across his vision, features warped and swirling.   _ Strange _ .  Hux didn’t remember opening his eyes.  He blinked and the specter was gone, washed away by the greyness.   _ Oh, it’s so quiet.  Huh.  Where are the birds?  There’s always birds chirping before dawn... _

The silence was almost threatening, then.  Staring him down like Hux was still a cadet at the Academy.  Frigid.  Tall (like his father).  He shuddered, took a gasping breath--

And woke.

\---

There were two blinding lights in the ceiling, and one completely useless skylight.  As Hux blinked away the imprints seared into his eyeballs from the white lights, he observed the vegetation clotting up the glass, and the old leaf litter that gathered in bundles around the edges of the skylight.  There was a greenish film over it.   _ Disgusting _ , his mind supplied.   _ Absolutely revolting.  Organic filth. _

Hux tried lifting an arm to remove the mask that was strapped down over his face ( _ Drugs,  _ he thought dizzily,  _ and they’re not entirely out of my system _ ), but his hand was secured with a soft white strap.  So were his chest and legs.  His chest hurt, vaguely.  The room was eerily silent.  Hux scowled, and then stopped as his lips stretched around a tube going down his throat.  He froze.  The heart rate monitor, on his right, started to flash an ugly red color (the same color as the energy beam from Starkiller had been, but  _ that _ was a thing of beauty.  Almost graceful-- burning across the galaxy in a stream of fire).  Hux could hear a muffled beeping coming from the thing, and some nurse dressed in white hurried into the room.  Her mouth was moving, but all Hux heard was a deadened sort of murmur, and then she pressed a button hanging from an IV drip, and suddenly the tube going down his throat didn’t  _ matter _ anymore, because his eyelids were closing, and the cloth covering his abdomen was scratchy and woolen and he was  _ so tired _ …

\---

Predicted moderate sensorineural hearing loss in the right ear.  Three cracked ribs, one pierced lung, internal bleeding caused by blunt trauma, and third degree burns that spiraled up from the left hand to the shoulderbone.  Rey had shuddered when she’d heard the doctor’s list of injuries, although she remembered that Hux deserved no less.   _ Killer of billions. _

Hux had been lucky.  Incredibly so.  It was rare that his craft hadn’t exploded on impact, and that Hux hadn’t been impaled on the joystick or any of the controls.   His left lung hadn’t collapsed until he’d been ensconced in the med bay, and the doctors had been able to slide a tube down his rapidly swelling throat to get air to his lungs and drain some of the fluid that had come rushing in from the pierced pleural membrane.

It took one week for all of the medications to work their way out of Hux’s system.  He was unconscious most of the first few days, and although he was lucid enough to look the doctors in the eye as they removed the tubing from his throat, he slipped into a restless sleep as soon as they were done.  Most of the fluids and nutrients he needed were delivered directly to his stomach via a PEG tube.  His eyelids were puffy (his sclera was tinged red) and his entire abdominal cavity was swollen and in varying shades of bruise: deep purple and blue were predominant, but there were many yellow and green patches, too.  Hux had lost a lot of weight: it had practically melted off him, leaving him more angular than ever, his limbs stick-like and weak.  Rey hated that.  Made him look helpless, like a child.  A person as dangerous as Hux did not deserve pity.  

She was curious, though, as to  _ why  _ he’d crashed his TIE fighter so recklessly (and  _ why the cat? _ )  Who had shot it out of the sky?  General Leia had received reports that Snoke had replaced the General-- perhaps Hux had been attempting to flee from the Order, or was too ashamed to stay.   _ It doesn’t really matter.  We’ll find out when he wakes. _

Hux woke up fully coherent for the first time on Thursday, indignant and angry.  He demanded that the nurse tell him where he was, at which point his shouting, hoarse voice drew Rey’s attention.  As soon as he saw Rey’s face peering around the corner, he paled and sat back on his pillow.  His mouth was pressed into a thin line and his eyes were cold and hard and grey.  Rey didn’t think she’d ever seen eyes as ruthless as his: they made him look reptilian, _ inhuman _ .   _ He’s got eyes like a snake. _

Rey withdrew her head and stormed off to let General Organa know that her captive had awoken.

\---

The court’s decision had been unanimous.  Hux was to be executed after he revealed all pertinent information about the First Order.   _ How typical, _ he’d sneered to himself.   _ And they’ve been given permission to access my information in any way possible.  _  Hux was prepared for torture-- after all, the Resistance was an army, and like all armies, they excelled in interrogation techniques.

Hux was allowed two weeks to recuperate from his most serious injuries.   _ They wouldn’t want to lose me by accident.  Or waste energy trying to beat me before the pain medications work their way out of my system. _  He spent most of his time devising methods to escape, planning on how exactly he’d backhand the first doctor that so much as dared to touch him.  The best he could do, though, was snarl when the nurses came in to change the bandages on his arms, or re-wind the gauze that was wrapped about his chest (the times with his chest were the worst, and sometimes Hux could barely breathe.   _ Fucking broken ribs. _ )  Twisting wasn’t an option, either, unless he wanted the tube that was attached to his stomach to rip something (or causing his catheter to jostle.  Hux  _ hated  _ catheters _.) _ .   _ And I don’t want that. _  So Hux stayed mostly still, angrily sulking, occasionally growling when one of the nurses accidentally bumped his raw, singed flesh.   _ Either they’re incompetent or just trying to make me miserable.  ...Probably both. _

Meals were delivered via PEG tube, and Hux did not see anyone aside from doctors and nurses.  Inwardly, Hux cursed his ill luck.  Landing on the Resistance base.  Not dying on impact.  Leaving the Finalizer, like a coward ( _ and who had convinced him?  Kylo fucking Ren.  Hux, the brilliant strategist, listening to Ren as if the Knight was a prophet.  _ That, more than anything, made Hux irate).  And bringing Millicent, of course.   _ Gods, she probably burned to death. _

It was nearly at the end of his two week stint (and Hux was getting  _ nervous _ \-- he’d been trained to withstand interrogations, but he really didn’t look forward to it.  His recent lack of resolve hadn’t been too comforting, either) when one of the Resistance  _ bastards _ came to check on him.  It was the girl, of course.  The one who’d haunted Ren since he’d first laid eyes on her, the one who nearly killed him.   _ Although Ren was foolish, trying to challenge her while injured. _

The girl stood at the far end of his bed, glaring at him.  Hux kept his gaze steady, his face stony.   _ I’m not afraid of you, child, Force-user or not. _

“Hux,” she began, fists clenched.  “What were you doing on that TIE fighter?”  (Hux ignored the fact that he strained to hear her--  _ damn _ the explosion that had left his right ear feeling hollowed out,  _ useless--. _ )

Hux felt his mouth press into a thin line.  The girl continued staring at him, angrily.   _ In a situation like this, it’s best to keep silent.  Besides, it hasn’t been a full two weeks yet.  Cowards are just trying to unsettle me. _

The girl seemed to be deliberating something.  “...Why the cat?”

That startled Hux, just a bit (his face twitched, and hurriedly he schooled it back into his usual cold mask).  _ They must have found Millie’s scorched bones.   _ Hux remained silent.  The girl gave an audible sigh.  “The cat’s alive, you know.”

Hux blinked.  “Why are you telling me this?”  His voice was hoarse from disuse, and pasty feeling.   _ Dammit.  Shouldn’t even have opened my mouth. _

The girl scowled, crossing her arms as if she was uncomfortable.  “Because then you’d at least know that you’re not responsible for the loss of yet another life.”

Hux snorted.   _ That’s less than logical.  Maybe she shares more traits in common with Ren than I originally predicted.  ...But knowing Millie is alive is a good thing, I suppose.  Although I’m sure they’ll find a way to make her suffer. _

“But then again,” the girl continued, “you don’t seem to give a rat’s ass about anyone else besides yourself.  Is that why you abandoned the Order?”

Hux shrugged.   _ You’ll find out about the depth of my loyalty soon enough. _  “I’m afraid you’ll find that my loyalty to the First Order is as strong as ever.”

The girl turned on her heel and left, apparently disgruntled.   _ What a child. _  Hux settled back into his cushions wearily.   _ Better enjoy the soft bedding while I can.  I’m sure that I’ll be sleeping on the floor in a few days time. _  Sleep crept up on him swiftly, and Hux spent a few minutes trying to drowsily stay awake.   _ I wonder how Millie’s doing...and that bastard Ren.   _ Hux recalled Kylo’s tangled hair, his bisected face.  The scars, winding and jagged, and the crater that marked where the bowcaster had struck.   _ Amazing that the blast hadn’t killed him-- but Ren was like that.  Always defying norms.  Bringing trouble.  Breaking rules.  Disorderly. _  The last time Hux had seen Kylo, the wounds had been red and fresh and angry.  Swollen. Hux wondered if the scars had healed yet.  Slowly, his eyes drifted shut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter's a lot shorter, and I'm not quite happy with it. But, hey! I'll get the plot moving eventually!

**Author's Note:**

> This was really fun to write.  
> → as you can see, I have no idea how the TIE/fighter pilot flying works. You could say I just winged it (heh, heh.)
> 
>  
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this pile of trash! Feel free to yell at me on tumblr at: pomodoriyum


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